Requirement for Underwater Domain Awareness During Red Sea Cable Interruption

Why is UDA Important for India?

National Security and Regional Stability: China’s "Underwater Great Wall" initiative, which includes seabed sensors and unmanned vehicles, has improved monitoring in the Indo-Pacific.

The increasing Chinese submarine activity in the Indian Ocean poses a risk to India's security strategy.

Safeguarding Critical Infrastructure: Submarine fibre-optic cables transmit the majority of India’s global data, encompassing financial operations, cloud services, and defense communications.

These cables are prone to sabotage, mishaps, and environmental disasters.

Maritime Strategy: India’s coastline of 11098.81 km, 1,382 islands, and an EEZ of 2.37 million sq. km necessitate enhanced underwater monitoring.

UDA is essential for protecting maritime routes, chokepoints, and coastal areas.

Economic Security: India's Blue Economy objectives, offshore energy, seabed extraction, and underwater pipelines necessitate safeguarding against natural and human-made disturbances.

Technological Shortcomings of India’s Undersea Cables

India has no established legal measures to protect undersea cables in its territorial waters and Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

In contrast to countries such as Australia, which has established "Cable Protection Zones" governed by UNCLOS, India has not yet created comparable zones, putting its cables at risk of both accidental and intentional harm.

Operational Readiness: India depends on foreign vessels for maintenance as it has no domestic cable repair ships. This lack greatly postpones recovery after cable impairment.

Surveillance Deficiency: There is limited underwater infrastructure for real-time monitoring of subsea cable systems, increasing the risk of delays in identifying and addressing disruptions.

Measures implemented by India

Advancing Deep Ocean Mission (DOM): India’s ₹4,077-crore DOM is making swift progress with the Samudrayaan Project.

The domestically constructed Matsya-6000 submersible, designed to dive to 6,000 metres, is planned for a crewed mission in 2027.

Recent tests of underwater hydrophones facilitating communication at depths of 5.5 km represent a significant advancement in deep-sea engineering.

Utilizing Strategic Alliances: Working with Australia on sophisticated towed-array acoustic systems and with the US through the Autonomous Systems Industry Alliance (ASIA) on autonomous underwater technologies demonstrates India's commitment to enhancing strong undersea monitoring in the Indo-Pacific.

Indigenous Maritime Infrastructure: The launch of INS Nistar, comprising 80% indigenous components, showcases how research, exploration, and defense requirements are fulfilled under Atmanirbhar Bharat.

Resource Safety and Energy Discovery: The initiation of the National Deep Water Exploration Mission (Samudra Manthan) aligns economic and security objectives by focusing on offshore oil and gas deposits within India's extensive EEZ.

Path Forward

Creating Indian-owned cable repair ships and a specialized subsea maintenance fleet would lessen reliance on foreign vessels. Investing in real-time acoustic and sensor networks can facilitate prompt identification of disturbances.

Enhance Technological Skills: Accelerate the creation of domestic Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs), Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) systems, and sophisticated sonar technologies to close capability gaps.

The use of AI-powered sonar data analysis, satellite-connected sensors, and predictive modeling will enhance real-time situational awareness throughout the Indian Ocean Region.